The billionaire businessman has received sustained criticism for holding onto his business interests even as he worked on becoming President.

Lawyers have suggested that by doing so, he threatened to make his administration in breach of the constitution from its first day.

But Mr Trump said that he wasn't being forced to give up the business, and was instead doing it because it is "visually important".

Mr Trump didn't say how he would give up the businesses, though it is likely that he will hand them over to his children. He said that he would explain more at a press conference in mid-December.

The announcement comes after several warnings from officials about potential conflicts of interests.

The former ethics lawyers for president Barack Obama and George W Bush last week asked the electoral college to not appoint Donald Trump as the next president due to his potential conflicts of interest.

Richard Painter, former chief ethics counsel for Mr Bush, and Norman Eisen, former chief ethics counsel for Mr Obama, said that the president-elect must sell out from his real estate and business holdings before 19 December, when the electoral college officially appoints the next president.

Separately Steven Schooner, a law professor at George Washington University, said the President-elect's business in various countries could lead to an “impeachment issue" because "foreign states basically paying money to the Trump Organisation by using their hotels.”